Zoo shares adorable video of endangered gorilla mother and baby playing: Watch

A hilarious footage of two gorillas squealing and chuckling as they wrestle away in zoo confinement has amused the internet. Shared by one of the oldest facilities in the US, Smithsonian National Zoological Park located in Washington, DC the video clip depicts two gleeful gorillas panting, hooting, and making sounds similar to human laughter as they play along with each other. The animals’ distinctive ‘happy’ vocalization explained their joyful mood and the internet was left mesmerized at their outpouring of emotions. 

“Wrestling with our western lowland gorilla mother-and-son duo: Calaya + Moke! Turn up the volume and listen for low, breathy, staccato vocalizations—that is what gorilla laughter sounds like!” The zoo wrote in a caption alongside the footage on its official Instagram handle. In the video, one can see Smithsonian’s western lowland gorilla named Calaya playing with her male infant named Moke who was born approximately 3 years ago. The mother and the son duo are actually spending quality time, bonding with each other, and Calaya is, in fact trying to keep her son occupied by investing some time in a little activity within the zoo enclosure.

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Born in nearly nine years

Gorilla infant Moke, which translates to ”junior” or "little one" in the Lingala language of Africa, was the zoo's first western lowland gorilla baby born in nearly nine years. The species of Western lowland gorillas are critically endangered, and there are an estimated 100,000 left in the region.  Western lowland gorillas mothers spend immense time in training the infants. They usually communicate with intense auditory signals, visual signals, and odors and are generally expressive. These species, during the bonding, may scream, bark, roar, and chuckle to express affection, according to scientists. These gorillas rely heavily on  "body language”. Since shared, the video left many moved, as they poured hearts in the comments thread. “That is beautiful,” one said. “So cute,” commented another. 

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